Technical Field
The present invention relates to a print control device that transfers a print job to a printing apparatus and also relates to a recording medium.
Background Art
The following description sets forth the inventor's knowledge of related art and should not be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art.
Printer drivers are installed on information processing apparatuses such as personal computers. Such a printer driver has conventionally had special print functions only for a specific application, for example, a function of prohibiting Microsoft Office Excel from splitting jobs between different printers.
Special print functions of a specific application have conventionally been shown in a print settings screen upon clicking of an “Others” tab, and the print settings screen unsuitable for the application is provided. So, users are often confused about which function is provided by the application. Hardly noticing the presence of available functions, users easily miss a chance to use them or to do settings of them, spoiling useful functions. This is an outstanding disadvantage.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-154908 discloses a print system that can be run on an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer. This publication also suggests a technique of allowing one single printer driver to control functions of various printer drivers, which are required by multiple applications, by switching the user interface screen and the print settings depending on the application ID. Specifically, in this print system, the one printer driver creates and obtains intermediate files in accordance with multiple applications. Each application is characterized by having the following portions: a portion that writes information about whether the application itself is installed or not, on an external recording medium at the time of installation, by registering the identifier of the application itself; a portion that deletes the identification at the time of uninstalling; and a portion that transmits the identification to the printer driver at the time of printing, by transferring the identification to the external recording medium. According to the disclosure, the print system is provided with the following portions: a portion that allows the printer driver to produce a different user interface depending on the application at the time of print settings, by reading its registered identification out of the external recording medium, the printer driver being configured to create an intermediate file in a desirable form in accordance with the application; a portion that performs printing with the print settings determined by the application, by reading its registered identification out of the same; and a portion that transmits a notice of print completion to the application at the time of print completion.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-154908 does not teach a technique of controlling “printer output-related” printer drivers for transferring print data to a printer. Actually, this publication teaches a technique of controlling “file output-related” printer drivers for obtaining an intermediate file in a predetermined form such as PDF by file conversion and storing it on a host computer, and with this technique, the printer drivers operate in a different manner depending on the application. So, users are still confused about which function is provided by their intended application, at the time of print settings. Hardly noticing the presence of available functions, users still easily miss a chance to use them or to do settings of them, spoiling useful functions. That is, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-154908 does not teach of a technique that can overcome the outstanding disadvantage discussed earlier.
The description herein of advantages and disadvantages of various features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed in other publications is in no way intended to limit the present invention. Indeed, certain features of the invention may be capable of overcoming certain disadvantages, while still retaining some or all of the features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed therein.